October 10-26, 1997
Reception Saturday, October 10, 7-9 PM

L.B.J. had three television sets installed in the oval office so he could watch all the news broadcasts at once - public opinion formed in real time- electronic self-knowledge.

This is not an anti-TV exhibit. That would be much too easy. This is a show about how we busy ourselves with the small stuff - how easily we are pacified. We get buried in the details.

We are kept occupied with stuff: the lotto, the latest music, sports, which Republican is investigating which Democrat this week, (or is it the other way around, or both?). And let's not forget the weather - those up-to-the-minute 3-D time-lapse computer generated views of cloud cover. I don't think even the farmers need that much information, but hey, I'm not a farmer.

We create stars (or stars are created for us). We seem to need them: sports stars, religious stars, and art stars. After the creation, we sacrifice our stars. We destroy them. In the case of artists...we absorb them.

We don't want our stars to be poor - dirt poor - we just want them to suffer a bit. Validation. Sort of like getting your parking ticket stamped.

Those on the outside are supposed to be in. That's what we are told. Unless the outsider smells really bad and lacks a dental plan. We call those people undesirables. We aren't really interested in the true outsider. The exception is the outsider who kills someone, or better yet, kills lots of people. We welcome these outsiders into our homes via TV.

Then we have the folks close to the inside - all wiggley like little energetic sperm competing to penetrate the egg. The system wouldn't work without them. Bless them. Their hopes, fears, and desires are used against them - against all of us. Psychological jujitsu feeds the economic engine. If you don't believe me just ask NIKE. I think that NIKE is a religion.

Those close to the inside pretending to be outsiders accquire small bits of specialized knowledge and use it as a wedge to force their way into the perceived inner sanctum of power. Wine. Cars. Art. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king. Education pays.

I don't know whose really in-charge but I can identify the pawns and the wanna-bees.

Don't ask me what really matters. Ask your priest, your rabbi, your minister, your shrink, your emergency room nurse. All I can say is that time flies and we play right along. We waste it so. We buy the movie. We think we are only renting, but we buy it.

We all do. No one is pure. After all, we get what we deserve. We get what we demand.